Press Releases
ROCKEFELLER LAUDS DEVELOPMENT GRANT
Neurosciences Institute Construction Begins in 2004
August 20, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The $10 million economic development grant approved Wednesday for the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute will mean research jobs for West Virginia – and hope for millions of Alzheimer’s patients.
?The mission of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute at WVU is of tremendous importance to people battling debilitating neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease,? said U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, who is chairman of the research group’s Board of Directors. No state has been more adversely affected by Alzheimer's than West Virginia, and I think the decision to award BRNI this grant underscores the state's commitment to this project.
“I’m very proud of the work being done at BRNI, and pleased to see West Virginia help the Institute take a giant step forward,” Rockefeller added. “This project will provide a research focus and a economic stimulus for West Virginia’s growing biotechnology industry – an industry that will provide opportunities in many communities around the state over the next decade.”
The building project is also funded by a $19.6 million Federal grant.
Construction of the 85,000 square foot, three-story research building is scheduled to begin in 2004, with completion in 2005. WVU has already begun utility upgrades and other preparatory work on the site, which is adjacent to WVU’s Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center.
Architectural drawings of the proposal, prepared by the Boston firm of Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, show three levels of laboratories and offices grouped around a central atrium.
“The construction of the research building on the WVU campus will provide laboratory space to house 30 to 40 scientists and all their laboratory and administrative support staff – up to 200 jobs after three years,” said Robert M. D’Alessandri, M.D., president and interim CEO of the Institute. “Placing all these researchers in close proximity to one another, and providing them with state-of-the-art labs and equipment, will help spark new collaboration and scientific discovery.”
“The members of the West Virginia Economic Development Grant Committee had some difficult decisions to make,” Dr. D’Alessandri said. “There were a great many good proposals on the table. I’m pleased to see that this one, that means so much to the future of West Virginia as a place for research and education, was funded and will be built.”
More information about the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute is available at www.brni.org.